Bang
by The Shareef
Summary: (SLASH, original characters) From SeeD exams to the butt end of a war, they’ve remained side by side. As duties begin to take up time, Abbie and ‘Danni’ begin to realize that keeping their relationship hidden isn’t as easy as it had been before.
1. Dannivel, Sir!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of Square's characters, places, concepts etc. I own Dannivel, Abbie and a smattering of other original characters, but the world in which they live in very much belongs to Square.

**Full Summary: **Dannivel and his lover Abbie have been through a lot together. From SeeD exams to the butt end of a war, they've remained side by side. As duties begin to take up time, Abbie and 'Danni' begin to realize that keeping their relationship hidden isn't as easy as it had been before, and even the simple comforts that most relationships have, like holding hands, they find themselves sorely missing. Through frustration, will they finally, after years of hiding, bring their relationship out into the open? Or will the constant oppression break them apart?

Chapter One  
  
I hate cleanups. With reason, I mean, it is possibly one of the most boring jobs given out. The funny thing is, I wasn't even doing the cleanup this time, just observing it. For the first time in my life, I actually wished I were down on the field running around and looking in nooks and crannies with the rest of them.

Most knew that I get irritable when bored, and wisely stayed out of my way. There were a few blunders, however, what with some of the new rookies and such. It was the usual, the same out of line comments or an unneeded report. The way I see it, if I don't need a report, don't make one. Obviously their instructors forgot to mention that every SeeD has their own little idiosyncrasies.

Besides the obvious frustrations the day was actually quite pleasant. There was a soft breeze coming from the east, the sun set comfortably in the west, and the clouds were a brilliant, vibrant pink. I heard my name being called and turned to face whoever was calling, making no move towards them or even acknowledging them except to fix a dark stare. Quistis Trepe strode through the sand and up the stairs to stand in front of me, looking up at my face.

"You look bored," She remarked. At my blank stare she let out a laugh and continued on. "Come, I'll get you something to do."

"I don't need a trivial job. Unless it's something extremely useful to do, I'd rather stay right here." I replied, leaning against the wall to prove that I was being truthful in my words.

Quistis sighed and put her hands on her hips. "You are absolutely incorrigible. I come to give you something to do because you're very obviously bored, but you and your pride would rather stay here and watch this tedious display of new cadets run around a deserted corner of town peeking though..."

"Point taken," I said, cutting her off. Quistis smiled smugly and crossed her arms across her breast. "Now what did you want me to do?"

Kicking a pebble across the stones, Quistis pointed down the beach to where a group of cadets squatted, talking amongst themselves. "They're assigned to the mountain, but the way's blocked. Since you're not interested in doing something, I won't bother to tell you that there's a group of soldiers responsible for the blockage."

"The soldiers are nothing," I complained.

"No," Quistis clarified. "They're better than nothing. If you don't go to those cadets and, ahem, 'escort' them up the mountain you'll be stuck here to watch the rest of the cleanup, which I am willing to do for you if you go."

I sighed, "Fine..." and then set off down the beach to where the cadets were. Several looked up when I approached, but many kept their eyes trained on the sad sketch in the sand of some sort of battle plan. I stood for a moment, waiting for them to notice me, and when no acknowledgement came, I cleared my throat. "Perhaps you'd all like to fail for not getting to your post?"

At the sound of my voice, the cadets started, jumping up to their feet and saluting smartly. One of them stammered out, "There's a group of soldiers on the mountain, Sir. We can't pass."

He was about to say more, but I held up a hand to silence him. "I am well aware of the situation, cadet. Do you think I'm here to make small talk?"

"N-no, Sir."

"Good. Now, I'm here to escort you up to your post. What's this in the sand here, cadet?" The one who had originally spoken was about to speak, and once more I cut him off. "I was not asking you. My eyes were trained on this young lady here when I addressed her, not you. Keep your lips closed. Now, as I was, what's this here in the sand?"

The girl I'd addressed was blushing, possibly at the idea of being called a lady even though her knees were scuffed and her uniform was covered in sand. The silly girl had been kneeling to draw, and in the process gotten her uniform filthy. "It's a plan of action, Sir." She explained. "We weren't expecting help, so we were planning on a way to get around the soldiers to our post."

"You realize that the purpose of the mission is to _secure _the area, not to simply get to where you are assigned." I erased the sketch with a sweep of my boot. "Besides, you no longer need a stealth plan. Are you all equipped?" The cadets nodded. "Then let's go. Wouldn't want you to lose points by wasting time."

I nodded approvingly as the cadets sprung to action, and I set off up the steps, not bothering to make sure they were keeping time. I hoped they'd fall behind and let me fight alone, but no such luck. Even though they had to jog to keep up, the cadets stayed close behind.

Halfway up the hill, I motioned for the cadets to duck down behind a boulder. It was the last cover for at least another one hundred feet, and I figured we might as well make use of it before slipping into the open. This way, I could scope out the numbers of the soldiers up ahead with relative safety to the cadets.

The cadets squatted behind the boulder, chattering amongst themselves with excitement at a real battle. I peered up the mountain at the group, making a rough count of the bodies. There were about a dozen, but there would be no problem at all. If the cadets could take half, I could get the rest.

"Cadets," I said, smirking internally at how responsive they were, immediately standing to attention and all ears. "For about a hundred feet there is absolutely no cover whatsoever. The nearest cover is that copse of trees over there—see it?" I pointed and the cadets looked, nodded and waited for me to continue. "Try not to draw attention on the way over, but if you do catch the eye of one of the soldiers, run fast." I smirked. "I don't really need to be held back treating a gun wound."

"Sir?" One of the cadets asked, toeing the ground. "What do we do once we get to the trees?"

I sighed and leaned against the boulder as though having five cadets under my care who constantly asked questions was the most frustrating thing in the world. Which it was. "Give me a chance to speak, cadet, and I'll tell you."

The sun had almost completely set, and I could still hear the water lapping at the shore. "Once you get to the copse, we're going to regroup as quickly as possible and then attack. Since they'll most likely see us making a run for the trees, it's best to attack them straight away instead of waiting for them to find us."

"So, we just run there, Sir, make sure everyone makes it and then attack?"

I nodded. "That's exactly it, cadet."

The cadets all lightened themselves up and stretched, preparing for the run that I was about to signal. It was annoying that they took so long. I don't remember ever taking so long to prepare. "All ready?" I asked.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Alright... go!" At my command, the cadets set off to the copse at a sprint. The entire urgency of the situation to the cadets made me laugh, watching them run as fast as they humanly could to the copse. I knew that there was no chance of them being seen as long as they were quiet. I arrived a good thirty seconds after them, having strode across the stretch rather than run. "What are you waiting for?" I asked, cracking my knuckles. "Did I not tell you to attack them as soon as you regrouped?"

The cadets all produced their weapons and saluted. I jerked my head towards the soldiers who were gathered just around the bend. To them this was a critical part in their exam. To me it was just another battle to end a very long and boring day.

As soon as we got around the bend, it was to prove to be an incredibly boring battle as well. Just as I suspected, the soldiers _hadn't_ seen us sprint for the copse, and they had certainly thought they were clever to hide on the mountain to call for reinforcements. The cadets spread out, each one putting their training to good use.

My fists collided with faces, and it was almost sickening to feel the bones breaking under my knuckles so easily. The familiar wave of nausea crept up and I was forced to swallow it down, swiveling around to face yet another soldier, whose nose shattered like cheap plastic under my fist. I brought my foot around, knowing with a fighter's sixth sense that there was indeed another one behind me. My foot connected with his jaw, and I followed through with all my weight. The soldier collapsed down, and I kneeled down, sending a punch to his gut. His eyes rolled around to stare at me, and disgusted, I grabbed his head in my hands and snapped his neck, not wanting to see his eyes or to have him to look at me.

The cadets finished the soldiers off with minimal difficulty, my sharp kicks or punches intervening whenever something got too much. In the end there were only a few scratches on the cadets from a stumble and a few bruises.

"Head on up to your post. Radio down if there's any trouble." I commanded. The cadets continued to jog up the mountain, leaving me standing among the dead bodies. I looked at the one whose neck I'd snapped and grimaced. His head lay at an awkward angle, but his eyes remained open. I clutched my stomach for a moment, staring back, and then lost control and vomited all over the bloodstained ground, retching violently.

As soon as I gained my composure, I set off back to the beach, walking slowly. I was glad that the day was over and the cadets were all at their posts. The cleanup was practically done, just doing one last sweep, and then we'd be off.

Quistis was waiting for me when I got back. She was seated on the steps, blocking my path. When I came up behind her, she turned her head and then motioned to the spot next to her. I sat down and leaned down with my head in between my knees.

"Are you all right?" Quistis asked. "You look awfully pale."

"It's nothing," I replied, taking a few shallow breaths. "I just lost it for a minute, that's all."

"What do you mean?" Quistis had obviously never 'lost it', and didn't know what I meant at all. How could she? She was what, sixteen, maybe seventeen?

"It's, just... nothing, really. You don't have to worry about it."

Quistis shifted to sit in front of me on a lower step so that she could look at my face. "Well now that you've said that, I'm obviously going to worry. Tell me what happened?"

I sighed and looked up at Quistis, her blue eyes eager and imploring. "Do you ever feel sorry for the people you hurt?" I asked.

Shaking her head in confusion, Quistis shifted uneasily. "N-no... what do you mean?"

"Never mind, Quistis. I'm gonna go wait in the vessel." Before Quistis could object, I set off down the beach to where the water vessels were parked. I climbed inside and sat down on one of the padded seats, rubbing my fingers into my eyes.

Crazy, crazy, boring day. It wasn't often I acted up like that after a battle, but every now and then...

I must have drifted off to sleep, because when I opened my eyes Quistis and some cadets were getting into the vessel. Sitting up, I smoothed out my hair, hoping I didn't appear to have just woken up.

"Well done, cadets." Quistis was saying. "There were no serious injuries whatsoever. Great teamwork." She looked at me. "Are you okay?"

Although I'd been shooting her looks, she obviously chose to ignore them and embarrass me in front of the cadets. "I'm fine, Instructor."

Quistis nodded and thankfully dropped it, sitting down and falling silent. The vessel started and began its shoot out to sea. "Abbie's on vessel two. He said to wait for him when we get to Balamb."

I looked over to Quistis, narrowing my eyes. "Why? Is vessel two running late?"

"A little," Quistis sighed. "I mean they were the last to get to their post, hence the last to get back. The vessel shouldn't be overly late. You have an appointment?"

"No, just curious." I replied. I hadn't seen Abbie since this morning when he left, grabbing his shirt off the floor and leaving, thinking I was still asleep. The seats on the vessel were comfortable, but I quickly grew impatient with the long trip. I was tempted to vocalize my complaints to Quistis, but I didn't dare around the cadets.

A cadet roused me from my reverie, first by misaddressing me, and then by tapping me on the arm. Instead of softly answering her question like she thought I would, I snapped open my eyes and said in a hushed snarl, "What did you call me, cadet?"

"D-Dannivel, Sir."

"What's wrong with calling me that?" Quistis made a noise next to me, though whether it was directed towards the cadet's insolence, or towards my pressing of the issue, I don't really know, or care, for that matter.

The cadet gulped. "It's... informal, Sir? I'm sorry, it won't happen again, Sir."

"Better not. Now what did you want?"

"Well, Sir, the exam is real, right?" I made an affirmative noise, and the cadet went on. "Have any of the cadets ever died during the field exam?" The question remained unanswered until she added, "Sir."

I thought about it for a moment, remembering my field exam, Abbie next to me in the shallow trench, our teeth gritted as we listened to our captain groan, a nasty gun wound in his leg; and then the bang, the sensations of blood spraying up over our backs and Abbie screeching, ducking under me. The radio signal was weak, but it was something. Captain dead. "A long time ago," I admitted. "But now the field exams are nowhere near as intense. The missions are looked at carefully before sending cadets in now."

Quistis nodded. "There's nothing to worry about, anyways. This mission was carried out to uniform perfection and there were barely any injuries. I'm sure you'll all be glad to get back to Garden and rest up a bit."

"How much longer?" A cadet asked, as restless as I was, though for different reasons.

Looking at the map on the screen, Quistis considered a moment. "I'd say about forty-five minutes. If you're getting sleepy I'll wake you up when we get there."


	2. A Mission

**Chapter Two**

"**Bang"**

I'd been kept waiting for nearly an hour. When Abbie's vessel finally pulled in, I jumped down from the crate I was sitting on and set off down to the dock.

Abbie was the last out, and he looked rather ticked off. When he saw me his face took on a relieved look. "Oh, you're here. Dannivel, you've no idea what I had to go through with Instructor I'm-So-Great Rankin!"

"Hyne, Abbie," I remarked, watching the cadets slink away looking embarrassed for their assigned SeeD. "Can it wait?"

"No, it can't wait. Rankin and I been... oh." Abbie caught my eyes and looked at his boots. "Hey, uh, Instructor Rankin? Go ahead with the cadets. I'm gonna hang back and catch up in a minute."

Rankin took one look at me and then gratefully jogged off with the cadets. "Why do they keep pairing you with him?" I asked, leaning against a crate that smelled like some sort of disgusting fish. "You didn't get along the first time, you obviously never have, and your cadets are feeling embarrassed for the both of you."

"Yeah, well, hullo to you too, Danni."

"Hey, I missed you today." I pulled Abbie into my arms and rested my chin on his head. "You were leaving just when I woke up."

Abbie's voice sounded muffled against my chest. "I would've stayed longer, but you were out of coffee, and I didn't want to go to the cafeteria, because that coffee's gross, so I went down to the"

"Training center." I finished his sentence for him, and Abbie looked up at me, smiling with that odd sense of wonder he gets when I do something he approves of.

"Yeah." He pressed a kiss to my collarbone and wrapped his arms around my waist. We stayed standing there for a long moment, holding each other before Abbie finally whispered, "We'd better move before someone from Garden walks along."

Reluctantly, we pulled away from each other and set off down the street. Rankin and the cadets were all piled into the car, and didn't look too pleased at the thought of not one, but two more passengers.

With so many people in the car, Abbie and I could sit close without looking odd, but the proximity coupled with Abbie's mischievous looks, all I could think about was grabbing Abbie in my hands and stripping him naked, licking him all over from head to toe. Not exactly my favorite line of thought in a car with eight people.

The cadets were talking amongst themselves for the entire trip, Rankin joined into their discussion, leaving Abbie and I to sit quietly for the most part, communicating silently over the chatter. Sometimes a cadet would try to include Abbie in the discussion, ignoring my presence. Abbie answered concisely and then quickly lapsed back into silence.

Ten minutes away from Garden, Abbie spoke up, unable to communicate what he was thinking silently. "You need to pick up more coffee."

It was hard to resist the urge to run my fingers through Abbie's hair. It was a wild, natural red, lacking the orange tint that most redheads have. I murmured, "I'll do it later tonight, Abbie."

Something about the way I said it, so soft and familiar caused Abbie's back to stiffen as the eyes of Rankin and the cadets focused onto me. Abbie gave a quick warning look before diverting his eyes to his lap, where his hands twisted together. I copied his actions, looking away and occupying my hands by clenching them into tight fists. Rankin didn't look away until we were approaching Garden, and Abbie twisted to look out the window, making a trivial comment about the rain that had just started.

The car pulled into the parking lot and everyone climbed out and scattered. For the first few minutes Abbie walked nearly four feet ahead of me, his feet moving quickly. I couldn't catch up to him without looking suspicious until we were walking through the open hallway leading to the dorms. I jogged up to him, caught his elbow and turned him to face me.

"Slow down, you're walking too fast..." I let the thought trail off as I saw the tears pooling in Abbie's eyes. "Oh, Abbie." He was warm against my chest, and his sobs started, the tears soaking my shoulder. "Abbie, baby, I know,"

"It shouldn't hurt this much anymore," He sobbed. I felt him go limp, and I lowered us both to the floor, cradling him in my arms. Lucky that no one was walking to their room at that moment, but finally I had to think ahead.

Even though it was the root of the problem, I stood up and looked at Abbie on the floor, prepared for another bought of tears. "Come on, let's go to my room."

Abbie stood up next to me and followed me to my dorm, lagging behind this time, crippled with emotion. I punched the code in and entered my room, sitting down on the bed and waiting for Abbie to compose himself, which he did fairly quickly as he leaned in the doorway, staring at me with wide, tear stained eyes.

"I like it when you, when you wear your shirt unbuttoned like that." He closed the door behind him and moved towards me, his fingers trailing over the buttons on my shirt. "I love you, Danni." He whispered.

I leaned back and pulled him with me, holding him close. "I love you too, Abbie."

"Not enough," Abbie murmured. "Show me."

Abbie suddenly seemed to be wearing too many clothes, his somewhat bizarre way of dressing too complicated for the moment. As I wrestled with his belts and buckles, there was an announcement that crackled over the speaker.

"All SeeDs with an ID ending in an odd number, please report to the front gate immediately."

"Bloody fucking hell." I cursed, lips freezing a few inches over Abbie's straining need.

"Ignore it for a minute," Abbie begged, tugging at my waistband, his fingers threading through my hair. "We'll run down in a bit."

It was impossible to object, and any argument I would've had became obliterated as Abbie's fingers traced down to my groin.

We weren't overly late anyways. Abbie and I managed to slip into the group unnoticed, arriving just in time to hear the overview of what seemed to be an elaborate mission. Xu stood at the front of the group, explaining the assignment.

"Another call arrived sixty-three hours ago for SeeD help, and we've put it off as long as possible. We realize that a few of you have just got back from the field exam, but there is simply no possibility of putting this off for any longer."

The announcements crackled to life once more, asking the even numbered SeeDs to report to the Quad.

Xu let the announcement finish before continuing. "It seems that Deling City is facing a crisis—unprovoked attack, or so they say. We've also recently received a call for SeeD assistance from Timber, who claim that Deling City has recently launched an assassination attempt on one of their more prominent figures.

"The assassination was meant to kill Bjorn Friedrich, a local politician who is in resistance to Galbadian rule. Obviously, the timing of these two incidents has aroused suspicion. We are sending SeeDs to both locations, not only to deal with the problems, but also to see if there is a connection between the attack on Deling City and the assassination attempt.

"The SeeDs with even numbers will be sent to Deling City to get the rival forces out of the city, preferably as peaceful as possible. The odd numbered SeeDs will be split into several groups, some going to Timber to perform various jobs, and one or two groups going to Deling City to spy. As you can see, your jobs will be more information gathering."

I looked over to Abbie, who smiled at the thought of doing something that would put his skills to good use. He noticed my eyes and caught them for a moment, his lips parting into a toothy grin.

"I have a list of the teams here," Xu continued. "All teams were chosen to be well rounded for the job they were assigned to, which means that complaining is absolutely unacceptable. However I'm sure that since all of you are SeeDs, we'll have none of that." I noticed that her eyes rested on Rankin, then shifted slowly to Abbie as she said this. I wasn't the only one who noticed, because Abbie's shoulders slumped and he groaned low in his throat.

He moaned, "I'm with that asshole _again_?"

Xu held up the list and shook it in the air. "Now silence, please. I'll read off the teams. Can Abbie Arbrin, Kiesha Ellehart and Louis Rankin step forward please?" Abbie trailed his fingers over my hand as he left my side, walking to the front of the crowd. "Alright, now will the three of you head upstairs to the 2F classroom, where you'll be walked through your particular assignment."

It was a long time before my name came up. Xu slid the paper down in her hands and cleared her throat. "Reid Cade, Dannivel Fellen and Mystique Lune... head to the library, please."

I took up the rear on the way to the library, taking the moment to observe Reid and Mystique. Reid was built a lot like Abbie—slender and of average height. Judging by the belt around his waist he was some sort of explosives specialist. Mystique was the type of girl you'd expect to find with a name like that. She looked absolutely loony, her long blue skirt over high white boots, coupled with a shirt that flowed to halfway down her leg. I didn't even want to know her specialization.

The library was nearly empty except for the man who was going to brief us on our mission. He was leafing through some papers when we arrived, smirking to himself.

"Well, this is quite a motley crew." He commented. The man nodded to Mystique and said, "Good to see you, Myst. Up for this?"

"I'm ready for anything." Mystique replied. Her voice was low and husky. I found it oddly repelling.

The man looked at Reid, his smile growing manic. "Explosives, huh? Ooh, I'm glad to meet another. Unfortunately, this job doesn't require your skills in that field, but in your shooting."

Reid shrugged. "Either way, it bangs."

Great, I thought to myself, I've got a man with boobs and a psycho. I just hoped I wouldn't get my head blown off in my sleep.

Then the man's attention was turned to me. "Dannivel, hnn? Can I call you Dan?"

It was a trick question. Whether I said yes or no, he'd still use it. It didn't really matter anyways. Dannivel was too long for most people, and I wouldn't let anyone but Abbie call me Danni. "Why not." I sighed.

"Great! So, Dan, you're a martial artist. Care to show us a punch? Put on your gloves and give me a swing."

"I'll break your jaw." I warned, not bragging, just stating fact.

The man shrugged. "Then punch this," He held up a book. "It's my own personal copy, so no library charges if it's damaged."

I took one look at the book, shook my shoulder out and swung. Crack! There was a hole going all the way through the book. My fist was inches from the guy's face.

"Wow, that's some punch." He commented, eyes wide. "Anyway, I guess I'd better get on with the briefing. My name is Darcy, and I'm filling you in on what you're supposed to do. And guess what guys... and gal...we've ended up with the short straw of the draw." Darcy peered at us as through scrutinizing us for purchase. "We've got the hardest job of the evens. When I say we I mean you, because obviously, I'm not going with."

"Great," I muttered.

Darcy smiled. "Anyways, the idea is that since Mr. Friedrich has had an assassination attempt, he's a little paranoid, a little jumpy. He wants a bodyguard. Since this is an information mission, you can guess what else a bodyguard will do."

Mystique sighed, then said, "I never thought SeeD took missions like this. We're mercenaries, not spies."

"Well, if you look in a dictionary, a mercenary is defined as 'a professional soldier hired for service in a foreign army'. There is absolutely nothing that says that mercenaries cannot spy." Darcy replied.

Although I really had nothing against spying, I spoke up in Mystique's defense, just because it was a point that needed to be brought up. "But if mercenaries are hired out for foreign armies, it wasn't Timber that asked us to spy on them. Deling City didn't even. We're just doing our own detective work."

Darcy huffed, "Well, you're getting paid for it, so just let me finish the briefing." I crossed my arms over my chest and shifted my weight to my left, watching Darcy clear his throat and make some important harrumphing noises. "Anyways, he's paranoid enough to want not one, but three professional bodyguards. His request was for persons skilled, not only in weapons, but in hand-to-hand," here he paused and gestured at me, "as well as persons skilled in more of an indirect, magical way." He tilted his head towards Mystique. "So basically, it's a simple guard mission, which I know from your files that you've all done before. So do what you did then, just keep an ear out for anything you hear."

"I cannot wait for the mission to come," Mystique said in her husky, low voice. "It will be good to exercise some skill."

Darcy nodded. "You'll be taking the train to Timber in the morning, so rest up well tonight. You're going to meet Lieutenant Till once you get there, and he'll take you to Mr. Friedrich. He doesn't know about the spying bit, he's not with us. To him you're just a regular enlisted bodyguard, so act it."

Reid, who had been completely quiet for the entire briefing, spoke up. "It's not honorable, you know." Then he formed a fist with his hand and mimed throwing something at his feet. "Bang." He whispered.

I shook my head and left the library, somewhat irked at that little display of odd behavior. Mystique came up beside me, her hands tucked into what I suppose were once jeans, but the seams were split almost all the way up to her thighs, creating two large flaps of fabric that swayed when she walked. "Sounds fun, n'est-ce pas?"

"Leave me alone," I grumbled, already having a bad feeling about this mission. Mystique followed me until I turned into the dorms, leaving her standing there sort of awkwardly. She called to my retreating back, "Don't fuck this up, Fellen! We're counting on you."

I shook my head and kept walking.


End file.
